Clientelism and digitalisation of Roma parties' electoral campaigns: a case study

Abstract Contrary to recent developments within party politics, Roma political parties in Romania fail to incorporate digital technology into their activities, although they face a continuously decreasing level of support from their voters. To explain this phenomenon, this article argues that elections governed by non‐programmatic strategies create not only different incentives towards digitalization, but also pose more challenges for certain ethnic parties, which also face internal shortcomings. It looks at the 2020 local elections in Romania and focuses on the two largest Roma political parties. The qualitative analysis, based on interviews with county Roma party leaders, confirms that the lack of digitalization is influenced by local clientelism, which affects the Roma electorate because of their socioeconomic situation. Besides, internal shortcomings further constrain such an option.